Flooring



(No Model.)

J. W; HEATON. FLOORING.

Patented May 18, 1897.

WITNESSES m vfmror;

.4 I URNEY.

T 5 "cams min, so, new umo wnsnmumw o c UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

JOHN W. HEATON, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF THREE- FOURTHS TO CAROLINE A. HEATON, SAMUEL STEPHENS, AND ALEX- ANDER O. AYRES, OF MARION COUNTY, INDIANA.

FLOORING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 582,645, dated May 18, 1897.

Application filed August 24, 1896. $erial N0- 603,'746. (N0 model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN W. HEATON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flooring, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my said invention is to provide a means for securing thin or parquetry floors in place which shall not be exposed nor leave perforations in the flooring material and which shall be very simple and inexpensive in construction.

A fastener embodying my said invention will be first fully described and the novel features thereof then pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof and on which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the corner of a room where a second thin or parquetry flooring is being laid; Fig. 2, a detail cross-sectional view illustrating the means of securing the thin floor upon the old or ordinary floor; Fig. 3, a perspective view of one of the securing-strips; and Figs. 4 and 5, detail transverse sectional views on the dotted lines 4 4 and 5 5, respectively, in Fig. 3.

In said drawings, the portions marked A represent the under or ordinary floor; B, the strips, of which the upper thin or parquetry floor is composed, and O metal strips, forming the uniting and fastening devices which embody my present invention.

The floor A is or may be any ordinary flooring, and in practice is usually an old floor which it is desired to cover with a new thin hard wood or ornamental floor.

The flooring-strips B are the usual narrow thin flooring-strips employed for the purpose of covering rough or old worn floors and differ only from the strips usually used for this purpose in that they are grooved upon both sides, with the lower portions of the edges cut away somewhat to receive my improved fasteners, instead of being grooved upon one side only and tongued upon the other, as is common. The preferable form of cutting away the lower edges and under sides of the strips is best shown in Fig. 2, where, as will be observed, sufficient space is thus provided for the Vertical portion of the fastening device between the lower halves of the edges of the strips where they come together, and also a recess or channel on the under side of one of them to receive the lower horizontal proj ections of said fastening devices, so that the strips themselves may thus lie flat upon the common or under floor, as shown.

The strips 0, I make of sheet metal, such as sheet-steel. The edges of these strips enter the grooves in the edges of the wooden flooring-strips B, while the vertical portions 0 extend from said grooves down to a point substantially flush with the under sides of said strips, and further projections c extend out horizontallyand rest upon the upper surface of the floor A. Through these last-named projections c nails or screws a are driven into the floor A. It will be observed that these fastening devices in their primary condition are simply plain straight strips of sheet metal and that the fastening projections or ears are simply clipped out of the sides of these strips and bent downwardly and outwardly. Such ears or projections are thus taken principally from the body of the strip itself, which of course results in a great economy of material in forming the fasteners O as a whole.

I am aware that metal fasteners have heretofore been employed in securing surfacing materials in place, but these have either been heavy and cumbersome, like cast-metal rails, or the sheet metal has required a considerable additional width to form the fastening ears or projections. By means of my invention, as is clearly apparent, a large proportion of material is saved over that necessary to any construction of such a character.

The method of laying floors where my improvements are employed is as follows: A strip B is first laid upon the old or under floor A and a suitable number of metal parts 0 inserted in the groove in the edge thereof, with the projections c extendiugto the front. Nails or screws a are then driven through these projections into the floor A, after which another strip B is put in place, the groove wherein passes onto the projecting edge of the part 0, and so on until the floor is completed.

While I have shown and described this invention as applied to floors, wherein I expect it will be principally employed, it may of course be used in the putting up of coverings generally, such as ceilings and wainscotin gs, and such a use is obviously within the scope of my invention.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, in an upper or parquetry floor, of the flooring-strips B having grooves in their edges, and the thin metal strips 0 having tongues cut from their edges and bent downwardly at right an glcs with the plane of said strips and thence outwardly parallel therewith and adapted to be secured to the under floor upon which said upper floor is laid and thus secure said upper floor thereto, the whole being constructed and arranged substantially as shown and described.

2. Afastener for parquetry-floors and such like structures, consisting of a straight flat strip of sheet metal having projections or cars thereon, said projections or cars being formed by cutting into the strip of metal from the side, and bending the portion so out downwardly at right angles to the plane of the strip, and thence outwardly in a plane substantially parallel with the strip, substantially as shown and described and for the purposes specified.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 21st day of August, A. D. 1896.

JOHN \V. IIEATOX.

Vitnesses:

CHESTER BRADFORD, JAMES A. \VALSH. 

